Chained Echoes

 Switch
User Score
8.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 92 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 79 out of 92
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 92
  3. Negative: 9 out of 92

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  1. WeAllEffed
    Jul 29, 2023
    1
    Could be a fantastic rpg, but completely ruined by the Overdrive mechanic. All it is is fake difficulty as it pigeonholes you to play exactly the way the game wants you to. Battles end up being is a tug of war with this mechanic. Then the game arbitrarily decides to put you in Overheat for no apparent reason; where you take more damage and skills cost more to use. Getting out of OverheatCould be a fantastic rpg, but completely ruined by the Overdrive mechanic. All it is is fake difficulty as it pigeonholes you to play exactly the way the game wants you to. Battles end up being is a tug of war with this mechanic. Then the game arbitrarily decides to put you in Overheat for no apparent reason; where you take more damage and skills cost more to use. Getting out of Overheat completely derails the flow of the battles, and it makes no sense. There are either turns, or situations hardcoded, or it’s designed to be a pain. For example: a skill is highlighted yellow-orange (arbitrarily mind you) that will significantly lower the overdrive bar, often times forcing the player to use a skill that’s not beneficial. Sienna’s Pilfer when there’s nothing to steal, or you need to heal but some random skill lowers the Overdrive gauge, which allows you to temporarily play the game until it randomly throws you back into overheat.

    Give me an option to disable this stupid mechanic and I’d likely change my review score.    … Expand
  2. Tortor
    Jul 30, 2023
    4
    I desperately tried to enjoy myself but oof, the writing was just so bad. The combat just felt too on rails too. I bought into the hype and good reviews but feel like I fell into the trap of something over rated. It's clearly not as amazing as everyone makes it out to be. Maybe the lack of exposure to what actual good writing is leading to people thinking this is good or I'm just spoiled.I desperately tried to enjoy myself but oof, the writing was just so bad. The combat just felt too on rails too. I bought into the hype and good reviews but feel like I fell into the trap of something over rated. It's clearly not as amazing as everyone makes it out to be. Maybe the lack of exposure to what actual good writing is leading to people thinking this is good or I'm just spoiled. I'm a huge book nerd, I've read and reviewed hundreds of books just within the last few years, so I'd like to think I'm a pretty good judge of what good writing is like. This was not it, it felt cringey, dry, overly reliant on exposition dumps and poor pacing. You get overwhelmed with nouns of people, places and things that just arnt introduced in a way that allows a person to get attached to the world or being able to recognize what's in it.

    Story is important for this game because in the first 10 hours for example, 7-8 of those felt like it was reading dialog or running to the next place to get to the next piece of dialog. Lots of mini cut scenes, so it's very obviously story driven but unfortunately nothing about it felt original. The characters fall into tropes and so does the plot structures and foreshadowing. It just is so predictable that i feel like an AI wrote it and plugged in just as much stuff that we've already seen done before.

    I may be spoiled as I've played so many great story games and read so many books that my standard might be a little skewed but even without all that I think if anyone stepped back and looked at this objectively it really is just not good.

    The gameplay pacing is also sorta bad. I just didn't like the combat system. It sorta played itself in a way with very clear choreographed moves and timing made super obvious. Some of the moves were also ridiculous and didn't make sense leading to be taken out of the immersion. For example why is an ultimate move a guy stabbing the ground and a mountain size sword comes out of the ground at the enemy? It just feels so poorly thought out because it doesn't make sense, why is he doing that? Why's the sword grow? Why after all that is the damage barely double-triple that of an average attack? It's giving characters powers for the sake of it with no explanation.

    Worse part of the combat that made it all feel sorta automated was the heavy reliance on overdrive. Moves pretty much picked themselves depending on how it impacted the meter. There are some things you can do to play around with it but it felt like the game was telling me how to play exactly how it wanted me to instead of letting me experiment and try and figure things out on my own. The upgrade system is also very typical. It boils down to just numbers. It was more of a chore to sort through loot that was just chasing a higher number as the equipment barely made much of a difference other then making sure the numbers are higher at the first opportunity you get to increase it. I hate when games do this. I like when games make upgrading change a whole play style or make nigh and day differences so i feel more in control. This definitely does not do that, you're very much stuck with certain roles and have a lot of limitations, turns upgrading into a boring chore.

    Exploration wasn't very good either, again felt like a chore as it rarely wad rewarding enough to go off the beaten path. I just did not enjoy the tedium of it all as it always felt like the game was on rails with what exactly it wanted you to do and go to. It gave the illusion of being open when in fact it's very much on rails.

    Only thing that got me going was the art was really pretty as well as the good music.

    The gameplay and writing though just isn't good. I can see some opportunity in there for something potentially good but the author relied too heavily on exposition dumps and didn't really finesse the dialog or plot structure to something more original.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

2
#2 Best Switch Game of 2022
33
#33 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2022

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
90

Universal acclaim - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. NintendoWorldReport
    Apr 3, 2023
    90
    I ended my playthrough of Chained Echoes at roughly 65 hours. On the Switch OLED this game is beautiful, the vibrant pixel art aesthetic shines on screen, and its performance other than the aforementioned UI bug is flawless. Gameplay is also buttery smooth and appears to be running at a high frame rate. I enjoyed my time in Valandis so much that I experienced as much of the side content as I could. This full length RPG stands as a love letter to the games I grew up with. The inspirations are clear, and yet this is a wholly unique RPG experience that anyone who has an affinity for the style–and 90s’ RPGs in particular–owes it to themselves to enjoy.
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  2. Impulsegamer
    Feb 7, 2023
    90
    Chained Echoes is a loving tribute to 90s JRPGs but also a thorough reinvigoration of the genres stalest aspects. Not just a great tribute, a great game.
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  3. Game Informer
    Jan 25, 2023
    88
    While Chained Echoes has the advantage of decades of distance from the games it looks to for inspiration, it’s a better experience in many instances than those vaunted games from which it arose. I prefer this combat, storytelling, and approach to progression and exploration to many of the JRPGs I grew up so enamored with playing. That’s the highest praise I can heap on a game so removed in time from the games to which it might be compared. Whether you currently count yourself a JRPG connoisseur or fondly recall the ʼ90s heyday of the genre, Chained Echoes is well worth your time.
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